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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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MEETING |
Dringhouses and Woodthorpe Ward Committee |
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DATE |
27 June 2023 |
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PRESENT |
COUNCILLORS Fenton, Mason and Widdowson |
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APOLOGIES |
COUNCILLORS |
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1. 18:30 informal drop-in
2. 19:00 Main meeting
Update from PCSOs
One of the major issues in the ward and across the city is cycle theft. One of the ways to tackle the issue successfully is involvement of the community by reporting theft and sighting of stolen bicycles. This approach is bringing results, with the recent example of a tricycle that was recovered recently. Residents were encouraged to ‘dotpeen’ their bicycles and to make sure their bikes/mopeds are secured with two locks.
Please report things if you see them. Phone 999 if you are seeing a crime in action. Domestic burglary is also an issue they are focusing on tackling via Operation Cordial. Lock your doors etc. Many burglaries are not pre-planned but people taking advantage of an open door, don’t leave stuff outside etc.
Community messaging service: please sign up to it and take advantage of it. We are trying to utilise it to get messages out to the community as quickly as possible.
Questions were invited from the audience.
Q - A question was asked if the Police still do bike coding?
A - Property marking service is provided and residents were invited to attend a property marking event on the 13th of July at the Acomb Police Station. The Owner address can be engraved on the bicycle frame, which enables quick return to the owner once the stolen bike is found.
Q - Moor Lane: the traffic is getting super-fast. Can the police camera van be dispatched to monitor the location?
A – A speed concern form can be filled out which will trigger the process. The form can be found on the North Yorkshire Police website.
A resident suggested installation of traffic calming measures as a potential solution.
There is also a potential for the traffic team to come out with speed guns.
Q – Will there be proactive Police action during summer school holidays?
A – Yes, Operation Liberate will target certain areas during that time.
Q - An issue with cyclists on the footpaths was raised by a resident who experienced a number of near misses. A request was made for the Police Area Commander to provide a response on actions that are being taken to tackle the issue.
A – We will take it back. The Police approach with young people is to engage, encourage and educate. A person over 18 years of age found cycling on the pavement can be issued with a traffic offence report.
Q – Can messages about major traffic incidents be incorporated on the Police messaging service?
A – This is already taking place, but the message has to be issued by the Police Communications Department.
Round Table discussions to refresh and consult on ward priorities
At Hannah’s table there was a lot of chat about how general and broad the existing ward priorities are. People also felt they didn’t know enough about what ward funding went to and how it worked. We talked about the decisions being published, but hard to find. It was agreed it would be helpful to have a presentation about how the ward funding process works, what has been funded and how it fits the priorities.
I raise the ward profile pages on the Council website as a way of getting more information to understand the needs of the ward.
For me a takeaway from this discussion was how helpful the Neighbourhood Action Plan would be to facilitate this conversation.
At Michal’s table the discussion focussed on improving the local environment and community safety priorities. The following comments were captured on post-in notes.
· Chalfonts – grass cutting regularly and cleaning the Square
· Actions: Litter picking along Moor Lane
· Road sweeping frequency on Tadcaster Road. It happened twice recently over a short period of time. It is required that frequently?
· Cycle Path by Girvan Close is overgrown with vegetation (public trees and hedges)
· Not destroying the local environment is important i.e. by attempts to build houses next to Askham Bog
· Cycling on pavements is an issue
· Issue with parking and cars entering and exiting the Little Green Rascals nursery
· Mixed feelings about improvements to cycling infrastructure as part of Tadcaster Road development. Will that really make a difference?
· Young people – what is the right thing to spend funds for? We are not engaging with young people in this setting.
· Askham Bar site development – potential future priority
· A publication, or an action plan to be created and published to present how all the issues discussed will be addressed
· Refugees -what is the plan in relation to that matter – currently housed in a hotel
· Public transport across the ward
· Child poverty at ward level as potential priority raised by Cllr Mason
The following messages were captured on post-in notes at other tables:
· Gardens – Awareness of assistance available for some council tenants
· List of activities / volunteering opportunities
· Lighting improvements
· Informed of crime via Messenger service
· Footpaths – remove tree roots, can make paths difficult to navigate in a wheelchair
· Money to improve roads
· Volunteering - recruiting – GoodGym, Beeson, York Neighbours
· Young people/children activities
· Quality control around road repairs
· Current priorities – practically what do they look like? Too broad?
o Community involvement in what?
o Need more information really on how current priorities are addressed and fulfilled to say if need a change
o Feedback from Councillors on what money is spent on for ward priorities
· Feedback
· Comms
· Access if no IT etc. – doctor by phone
· Complicated – direction
· Politicians should cooperate/ be accountable
· Lonely and single person – how do they connect?
· Public transport – bus service in particular – timing and frequencies
· Outreach / engagement – young and old
· State of roads – what is happening?
Have your say
Melanie Farnham provided an update on Tadcaster Road project timeline. Pavements will be looked at in October. At the moment, there have been excavation works and medieval road was discovered under Tadcaster Road. Mid-September there will be more drop-ins about the Tadcaster road project.
A concern was raised that some pavements are difficult to navigate. How much has council paid out for legal reimbursement for falls etc because of condition of roads and pavements? Cllr Widdowson will look into the figures. Cllr Fenton explained about intervention level threshold that has to be met before a pothole is repaired. Everyone was encouraged to report issues to either Councillors, or via the reporting tool on the Council website.
Q - Is there a quality control on all repairs of potholes? If there isn’t resource to fix them properly why do the temporary fix?
A – If there is no resource to repair by cutting out a square/rectangle, filling in and sealing around the edges a temporary fix is utilised to avoid accidents. If the work is undertaken by a contractor, the Council can go back to them asking to repair it properly if it wasn’t done up to standards. Please report any such issues to us and we will follow them up.
Q - Signs for diversions - who decides the signs on the A64?
A - This is a Highways England decision, and the Council has no influence on that.
Anne from Chapman’s Pond CIC shared about what their organisation does and invited volunteers to join. They have set up a community interest company and leased the land around Chapman’s Pond. There will be a big push in October for more community involvement. They have planted a foraging forest garden and been supported a lot by York Cares.
St. Leonard’s Hospice – Julie Dale works with the community outreach and shared about the wellbeing café they have. It is open 10-3 every day and offers somewhere for people with life limiting illnesses to visit. They also run a scheme to support carers and offer them a break. 40-60 people are supported monthly.
Wilberforce Trust – a charity that works with those who are visually impaired has a new space near the College with a café and wildflower meadow. The café is open 10-4 every day and it’s a lovely place to visit.
Ward Planning Panel – Councillor Fenton outlined about the role of the Panel and encouraged anyone who may be interested to join.
Before closing the meeting Ward Councillors encouraged everyone to suggest agenda items for future meetings. The next meeting will be taking place in Oct/Nov this year.
, Chair
[The meeting started at Time Not Specifiedand finished at Time Not Specified].